Hulen T. Rigsby, Sr., with most of his herd of 40 registered
Jersey cows Date: December 1948 Photographer: Jack Sloan

"In about
1944 Hulen T. Rigsby, Jr., bought a 42-acre farm near Dickenson in
Galveston County. The purchase was made possible by a G.I. loan available
to veterans of World War II and was made by Citizens State Bank in
Dickenson. He and his father Hulen T. Rigsby, Sr., operated a modern
dairy with a herd of 40 registered Jersey bulls on those 42 acres
until 1956, when financial problems resulting from a prolonged drought
forced the dairy out of business. The Rigsbys leased an additional
100 acres for pasture and the growing of sorghum for silage to feed
the cows during the winter. The silage was stored aboveground in an
earthen storage area built with dirt that came from the construction
of a pond for fishing. Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M assisted
the Rigsbys in determining what grasses would grow in an oil-field
area which tended to be marshy. A series of drainage ditches made
it possible to have good pasture and fields in formerly unproductive
land. Mr. Rigsby, Sr., was a member of both the Texas and the American
Jersey Cattle clubs and showed his animals at the Texas Jersey Cattle
Show and at livestock expositions in Houston and Dallas. He was also
a 4-H club leader and a supporter of the Future Farmers of America.
Over the years he gave several registered Jersey calves to boys in
Galveston County."